Generosity (DANA) Stories from Delson-Heartwarming!

Well, these are the folders you gave me, so I'm just... you might need them for something. Oh, you've already got one, like. I haven't even said anything. Let's try to get this to a thousand likes. No pressure, huh? So today I want to talk about what to do after you get off a retreat, because your minds are obviously starting to think about what do you do off of retreat. And what I'm going to talk to you about is going to be helpful for you during retreat as well as for the rest of your lives.

And essentially what I want to talk about is karma and three components. We talk about the practice or the path of Buddhism, of the Dhamma, as being sila, samadhi and panya. Sila is keeping your precepts, morality. Samadhi is meditation, and panya is the insight or wisdom that you receive from those previous two practices. But there's another way of looking at it, which is sila, dana and bhavana. So again, sila is your ethics, your morality. Dana, which is going to be the central focus here, is generosity. So generosity has different definitions.

But essentially, generosity will help you to keep a mind that is light and uplifted, which allows you to experience bhavana. Bhavana means to develop the mind, mental development. So it's synonymous with samadhi in some ways. The power of keeping the precepts is something that should not be underestimated. The precepts, the five basic precepts. Right now, you're taking eight precepts.

And when you get off of retreat, you will then be given the five precepts. And the five basic precepts, as you all know, are essentially a way of keeping the mind pure. So what are the five precepts? Refraining from intentionally killing or harming living beings. Refraining from taking what is not given. Refraining from sexual or sensual misconduct.

Refraining from using false speech, slander, gossip and so on. And refraining from indulging in intoxicants. So the precepts have a very practical application that is immediately effective in meditation. When you have a hindrance, the hindrance arose because you developed the mental quality for the arising of that hindrance. So what are the five hindrances? The five hindrances here are ill will, sensual craving, doubt, sloth and torpor, and restlessness.

By not following each of these five precepts, it leads you into one of the hindrances. When you break the first precept of harming and killing living beings, the intention that's there is ill will. And so if that intention is cultivated, it will translate into the hindrance of ill will. When you break the precept of taking what is not given, that creates a restless mindset.

And so that translates into an intention rooted in restlessness, as well as the hindrance of restlessness. When you indulge in sensual or sexual misconduct, here, what do we mean by sensual misconduct? The pursuit of sensual pleasures in such a way that you break the other precepts. You harm others or yourselves in the pursuit of sensual pleasures. Sexual misconduct is essentially cheating on your partner. That's it, right? Not indulging in sex outside of a relationship. That could be any kind of relationship. That doesn't matter. In essence, not to cheat on your partner.

And so when you have that, you have an intention of sensual craving, right? So, in pursuing sensual pleasures, your mind is dominated by sensual craving. And when you act upon that, you cultivate the hindrance of sensual craving. When you indulge in false speech, in slander, in gossip, you're essentially perverting the truth. You're causing doubt in others and you're causing doubt in yourself.

You start to lie so much that you need to create more lies in order for that lie to ring true. When you gossip about someone, you're basically talking about someone behind their back, and either you know it not to be true or it's something that you wouldn't say in front of them. So that creates doubt in the mind, and this translates into the hindrance of doubt.

When you indulge in intoxicants, indulge in alcohol, in drugs, indulge in anything that dulls the senses, you are creating a mind that has sloth and torpor. So there is a direct effect in keeping the precepts. Not only just saying them in the morning and then not doing anything about it. You have to, in the morning, whenever it is you start your day, take these five precepts. You're making a commitment to follow them through, and it sets you up for the rest of the day, because you think about it anytime you want to break a precept. Anytime you want to tell that little white lie, anytime you want to have that little sip of wine, anytime you want to harm that fly or whatever it is, your mind has that little conscience, a Jiminy Cricket, that says you shouldn't be doing that. That's very important. There is a power in keeping the precepts, and this has a great karmic resultant, right? And so, I have some wonderful snippets of suttas and examples and things like that that I'll get into.

But one of the things that really stuck with me was this. All thanks to David's work, David Johnson's notes. Right here, it talks about the benefits of keeping precepts. You won't die from an accident. In other words, you will actually live out your normal lifespan. You will die naturally, however that will be. But you will never get into an accident that is going to cause you death.

Conservation of wealth due to holding up precepts. In other words, whatever you have now will remain. And whatever you continue to earn and maintain as your wealth, or whatever it is, that will not diminish. You get, well, you always get what you need, maybe not what you want. Sounds like a lyric to a song, doesn't it? But that's true. Whatever is required for you in that moment, you will see that you always have it available to you.

You have a good reputation. One who follows precepts will be highly regarded. There's a certain dynamism about you. There's a certain magnetism about you. People somehow can feel your aura, let's say. They can feel that there's something different about this person, because it is difficult to keep all five precepts in the world. You may not tell lies. You may not harm anyone.

You may not steal. But you might drink. Right? You might not drink, you might not lie, you might not steal, you know, but you cheat. You may not cheat, you may not drink, you may not do this, but maybe you tell a little lie. So it's difficult, and very rare for people to actually keep all five precepts. So take up the challenge of doing that, and you will see that your life changes. The people around you take notice. Whatever you set out to do, if you're meeting people, if you're going on a business trip, whatever it might be, people will take this. You don't even have to say a word. Just walk into the room, and there's a certain magnetism to you. And this is actually, and well, part of that is no fear of public speaking. So those of you who are in something where you have to present, and you have public speaking, things like that, you won't have any fear of that. There's nothing to hide. You just go and you speak, and you speak from this certain level of power.

And that's just because your mind is so pure and so uplifted, and this is a very important part. You die clear-minded, no fear, due to morality, nothing but good has been done. If there is rebirth, then it will be a good rebirth. In other words, you will not die in confusion, unfortunately, and this is the natural aspect of samsara. The majority of beings die in confusion. When you see people in the hospital, when you see people dying, they are afraid. There's fear, but not always, because they are around their families, and they have good uplifting words said around them in the form of prayers and chants or whatever it might be. But again, that might be very rare.

Most people die in a way that causes a lot of confusion. They don't know what is going on, and because of that fear, it generates different kinds of formations, and then they cling to those formations, and it results in a negative destination, an unwholesome destination. So that is the power of keeping precepts, and this is non-negotiable. Make it to always keep the precepts. There are so many examples of people keeping the precepts where everything turns out well for them. All right, I can attest to that myself. Everything always works out. My karma is such that there's good and bad, seemingly good and bad, because it's just all the same to me.

Something that seems to be bad, something that seems to be wholesome, the effect of something that I did in the past is diminished or turns out to be okay. So you will see for yourselves that if you open yourselves up to existence and allow your minds to be uplifted by the certainty, the guarantee I should say, that you are keeping the precepts and everything today will turn out well. Even the most irritating thing that might happen during that day, even the most sort of thing, whatever happens to drag you down, that will be minuscule compared to all of the good things that are happening in that day. So that takes me to karma, and there is a wonderful sutta here, a collection of suttas, but I'm going to read one of them which talks about that, and it's called a lump of salt.

It's from Anguttara Nikaya 3, and it's 3.100, 3.100, a lump of salt. Because if one were to say thus, a person experiences karma in precisely the same way that he created it, in such a case there could be no living of the spiritual life and no opportunity would be seen for completely making an end of suffering. But if one were to say thus, when a person creates karma, that is to be experienced in a particular way, he experiences its results precisely in that way. In such a case, the living of the spiritual life is possible, and an opportunity is seen for completely making an end of suffering. Here, Bhikkhu, some person has created trifling bad karma.

So there is a similar sutta that talks about this in the form of loving-kindness, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity. And it's called the Conch Blower. It talks about just as one who blows the conch, and it goes in all directions, that sound, one develops a mind filled with loving-kindness, filled with compassion, filled with joy, filled with equanimity and pervades it in all directions. When that happens, his limited karma remains trifling, meaning he experiences it in such a way that it doesn't affect him beyond this life. Whatever he has to experience as an effect of that trifling bad karma, it is very minuscule. When such a person creates exactly the same trifling bad karma, it is to be experienced in this very life without even a slight residue being seen, much less an abundant residue. Suppose a man would drop a lump of salt into a small bowl of water. What do you think? Would that lump of salt make the small quantity of water in the bowl salty and undrinkable? Yes, Bhante. For what reason? Because the water in this bowl is limited.

Thus, the lump of salt would make it salty and undrinkable. But suppose a man would drop a lump of salt into the river Ganges. What do you think, Bhikkhus? Would that lump of salt make the river Ganges become salty and undrinkable? No, Bhante. For what reason? Because the river Ganges contains a large volume of water. Thus, that lump of salt would not make it salty and undrinkable. So too, Bhikkhus, some person here has created trifling bad karma, yet it leads him to hell, while some other person here has created exactly the same trifling karma, yet it is to be experienced in this very life without even a slight residue being seen, much less an abundant residue.

old karma that is what you have inherited as a result of your previous actions and then the new karma that arises is done so through the ingredients of craving clinging and becoming so mindfulness is that gatekeeper if you notice that everything you are experiencing right now in the present moment is a result of your previous karma and you don't identify with it you don't take it personally then it will dissipate and because of the lack of your reactivity which is the fuel for that karma to continue because of that lack there won't be another arising it will dissipate it might come up again but this time it will be weaker and see this for yourselves in the meditation whenever you six are a hindrance what happens if you are properly six are a hindrance the hindrance starts to weaken it might occur again and what do you do you six are it again this time it becomes even weaker and you do it again and eventually it goes away completely and your mind goes back to jhana so six hours i mean that is the encapsulation of the eightfold path.

And the Buddha has said that the cessation of karma is the eightfold path. So whenever you make the right effort to notice unwholesome states, let them go and replace them with wholesome states of mind, you are actually letting go of karma. And this is where not only the precepts come into place but also generosity, and it's known as dana in Pali. So when we talk about generosity, we're talking about giving, giving in such a way of whatever it might be: giving of our resources, giving of our alms, giving of our money, giving of our clothes, giving of our smiles. It's as easy as that.

Sharing a smile with somebody at the store, right? You go to any of these grocery stores and you see these cashiers and they're not always so happy, right? They're just, it's just a routine thing, whatever they're doing. But if you can bring a little joy into their day, just imagine how uplifted their mind is and just imagine how uplifted your own mind will be. Just having a normal conversation with someone and uplifting their mind, sharing a smile, sharing a joke, people remember you, right? That becomes a highlight of their day, that yeah, I had fun that time, in that moment my mind was uplifted. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but for some people it can be a big deal, and there's karma in that. You are helping another person become uplifted, and that's a wonderful thing.

You are spreading your joy. That's a form of generosity. So I'm going to give you a couple of suttas about generosity, the importance of generosity. And I'll give you some of my own experiences of that. So this is from the Anguttara Nikaya 5, 256 to 257. So without abandoning these five qualities, one is incapable of entering and remaining in the first jhana, in the second jhana, in the third jhana, in the fourth jhana and above, incapable of realizing the fruit of stream entry, the fruit of one's returning, the fruit of non-returning, arahatship, and so on, right? Without abandoning these five qualities. And what are these five qualities? Stinginess as to one's lodgings, one's family of supporters, one's gains, one's status, and stinginess as to the Dhamma.

So stinginess as to one's lodgings. In this case, for monastics, it's one's monastery and sharing lodgings with another monk or another nun. But in the case of lodgings for laypeople, what does that mean? Being able to have your house open to anybody who, you have a friend who is visiting out of town and they don't have a place to stay.

And so you offer that and you say, yeah, why don't you stay? But stinginess is a very, very heavy quality in the mind. It's a very unwholesome quality in the mind. It's one of the corruptions of consciousness. There are 16 upakilesas that are the defilements of mind, defilements of consciousness. And one of them is called macchariya, which means stinginess.

And that's not wanting to share. So pay attention in your own mind how you feel when somebody asks you for something. And you have this, maybe you have some resistance to share something. Your hand isn't open enough to be able to share. So find opportunities to see if you can let go of your stinginess. One of the stinginess you can see is when maybe you were in a dorm or you were living in an apartment with roommates, right, and there's stinginess about that. This is my space, do not enter my space, right, at your own risk. If that's stinginess, it's like, no, this is my space. You become like Gollum, my precious.

Don't do that. You saw what happened to Gollum, right, at the end? So, be generous in that sense. Be willing to share your space, right? Stinginess as to one's family of supporters. So this is an interesting one. So when we talk about supporters, we're talking about people who support you in one way or the other. When we talk about family, we're talking about our family members. For the monastics, it's about families who support them in the form of giving alms, food and shelter, and so on. So being able to connect with that family member to another monk is one way, you know, or if your family is there and you try to control everything that they're doing, let go of that, let go of the need to control what's going on in the household, right? Yeah, of course, as parents, let's say you have children, you have a duty to your children to make sure that they are not getting into trouble, but you do it in a way that is wise, compassionate and skillful. Don't be domineering, right? You might have resources, you might have connections.

You might know somebody who needs help with something, and you say, "Hey, I know a guy, let me give you his number," or "I know a person who can help you with this." Right? So making those connections, you're actually doing two things. One, you're helping that person, and you're helping the person who might be of service to of that person. You're helping the service provider. Or they might do it for free or whatever it is, but you're allowing that further flow of generosity to happen.

So stinginess of one's gains, whatever it is you gain, whatever it is that you earn, right? Being able to share that, being able to share a meal, being able to pay for another person's meals, being able to just give a gift to someone because you just felt like it. I had that so many times happen to me when I was in San Diego, for example. I lived with a guy who was very, very wealthy. He had a lot of money and a lot of resources, and I stayed at his place. He had this huge 8,000 square foot mansion, right? It was great, we had a fun time. It was like a devaloka. You drive, and it's this secluded gated community, and he has this huge backyard with a saltwater pool and hot tub and this and that, and I had my own room. It was great, it was wonderful. We didn't have a home theater, we had a theater in the home, right? We had a, it was about 12 to 14 seats, 100-foot screen.

It's wonderful. Imagine watching the news on that thing. Yeah, and that's what we used to do, is watch Chicago PD and Chicago Med and other shows on that, with the 8.1 speaker system and all that. Anyway, that was a lot of fun. He earned his wealth through all kinds of means in the technology sector and doing this and that, but he was also a very generous guy, very, very generous. I mean, the first thing he would do if somebody was coming to his house was have you eaten yet? And share a meal with them.

Whenever he had a potential partnership with someone, he would invite them over and he'd have an amazing meal cooked for them. And then he would talk about what he did and what they did, share their interests together, and just make sure that they had a great time. He would entertain them so well. Amazing food. We had a pool table, so sometimes we'd play pool, or we had a ping pong table. And he was very competitive with ping pong, so I became really good by the end of my time there. So anyone who wants to try ping pong, let me know.

But he was also generous in other ways. Like, I would go with him on his drives, and he had some amazing cars. He had this really amazing Jaguar F-Type, which was like a jet on the road, and he'd love to just speed through. So he'd take me on these rides, and we'd go, and he'd go to the bank, and he had to withdraw some money, and he'd come back and say, "Here, here's a thousand dollars."

Right? So I made sure that I kept riding with him every time he went out. He did really well for himself, and he was very generous. He made sure his employees were taken care of. He made sure that whatever he had, he would always share it, always share it. Right. He gave me stock in his company. He did all kinds of things for me. He got me a new laptop, a new computer, clothes.

I got a new phone every year because of the plan that he had, and all of these things. That was really inspiring, to be able to know that if you can do it, you can help others. He would be so uplifted in gifting people. He would just be like, "Here, I want to buy you this. Here you go, have fun, enjoy yourself." So if you're capable of doing that, even little things, very little things like paying for other people's meals, that's such a huge thing, because imagine, imagine what it feels like, or remember what it feels like when you were able to pay for somebody else's meal, how the state of your mind was very pure, very uplifted, very happy. It doesn't matter what the meal was. It doesn't matter how much the meal was. It was just that you were able to break bread together and be able to provide that for the other person or other people. So that is sharing one's gains, whatever you have, being able to share that with others. One's status. So what does that mean, one's status?

You might have influence in your particular part of the world, and whatever it is that you do in your stream of career, whatever it might be, and being able to help bring those people up. Maybe they need a job, maybe they need whatever it is, and you're able to make the connections and say, "Hey, I recommend this person, why don't you talk to them and see if they might be useful in your company?" So if you have influence over any kind of world around you, being able to share that with others.

That's really how people grow in this world. It's through the connections that you make. And that's one of the things that I spoke about, I've spoken about many times, which is, when we talk about making money or having wealth, it's not about just the ability to save and invest and all of these things, but it's about being able to develop very genuine relationships with people.

Because when you do that, people remember you. And when people remember you, they think, "Hey, maybe this person is right for the job," or "Maybe this person is right for this," or whatever, and they help you make those connections. That's a way of sharing your status, your influence. It's as simple as maybe you're a really great author and somebody says, "Hey, can you endorse this book for me? Can you write a little blurb about it?" That's a very small thing to do, but it means so much for the other person, and it might actually help them with their sales or whatever it might be. So that's a form of generosity.

And stinginess as to the Dhamma, this is the big one. So sometimes what can happen is you learn something new, and when somebody asks you about it, you know about it, but you don't share it. Why? The Dhamma is meant to be shared. Whatever you have learned here, I'm not saying go forth and preach the gospel. I'm not talking about that.

I'm saying, if you see that people are generally interested in what it is that you're doing in terms of your meditation practice, if you see that people are saying, "Hey, I noticed something different about you," right? Being able to share and say, "Hey, this is what I learned, and I can show you, and maybe you want to try it out." Giving the gift of Dhamma is the highest gift, being able to provide or plant that seed in a person's mind to say, "I'm interested in knowing more about this practice." That seed alone will profit so much in that person's mind, as well as in your own mind. When you speak to meditation teachers within the TWIM community, and when you speak to guides who are helping all of these people in their meditation practices, and you see somebody who has an experience, or gets into this jhana, or has let go of this level of suffering,

that teacher or that guide, their mind is so uplifted. They're so excited to talk to the other teachers about it. "You know, this is what happened." It creates such a wonderful experience. So being able to share that experience with others, when the time is right, when it makes sense to do so, that is so important. So don't be stingy with what you've learned. Be able to share what you've learned. And then it says, there are the five rewards of generosity. One is being dear and appealing to people at large. One is being admired by good people. One's good name is spread about. One does not stray from the rightful duties of the householder. And with the breakup of the body at death, one reappears in a good destination, in the heavenly worlds.

So this is from Anguttara Nikaya 5.35. These are the five rewards of being generous with your resources, with your time, with your smile, with whatever it is that you possess. One is dear and appealing to people at large. People admire you, right? One is admired by good people. Your name, your reputation, is a good reputation. When people think about you, they think about you in appealing terms. Oh, there goes that person. And their mind becomes uplifted when they think about you. And among good people, your reputation is such that you attract relationships and you attract people who will be beneficial for your path, beneficial for your career path, beneficial for whatever it is that you're trying to do in your life.

And so when that happens, things start to happen almost like on autopilot. Everything that you require comes to you. The people in your life, or the people that need to be in your life in order for you to achieve those goals, come to you. And they're willing to help you even before you ask. You might even just think about asking them, maybe I should talk to this person, and before you can even open your mouth, they say, "Hey, maybe I can help you with this," or "I can get you in touch with someone who can help you with this."

One's good name is spread about. Again, the reputation. You have a good reputation amongst people. One does not stray from the rightful duties of the householder. So as a layperson, there are certain duties, right, that depend upon what relationship you have to the world. If you're a parent, you're a good parent. If you're a spouse, you're a good spouse. If you're a teacher, you're a good teacher. If you're a student, you're a good student. If you're an employee, you're a good employee. If you're an employer, you're a good employer. If you're a business person, you're a good business person. If you're an entrepreneur, you're a good entrepreneur. If you're a professional, you're a good professional, because your mind remains clear, your mind remains uplifted, and you know what you have to get done.

So you don't stray from the duties that need to be done. And of course, again, with the breakup of the body at death, one appears in a good destination in the heavenly worlds. But that's at the death. But even before that, I would say your mind becomes deva-like. Remember when I talked about bhava when we were discussing dependent origination? It's the kind of psychological state that the mind can be in based on the kinds of states that are in there. If you have unwholesome states, you have more unwholesome bhava.

But if you are generous, you're kind, you're forgiving, you're compassionate, you have a good sense of humor. Your mind is light. You're able to be already in a deva-like existence. You enjoy life, you have a good time, you have good friends around you, you have people who support you. If your relationships were souring before, as you start to become more generous, you'll notice, because of the way your mindset is, because of the fact that you're sharing your resources and your smile and your loving-kindness, that the soured relationships start to become sweet again. The person starts to see something else about you and they say, hey, let me give them another chance. Here's another one from the... oh, this is the Itivuttaka. It says, if beings knew, as I know, this is the Buddha talking, if beings knew, as I know, the results of giving and sharing, they would not eat without having given, nor would the stain of miserliness overcome their minds.

Even if it were their last bite, their last mouthful, they would not eat without having shared, if there were someone to receive their gift. But because beings do not know, as I know, the results of giving and sharing, they eat without having given. The stain of miserliness overcomes their minds. So you'll see oftentimes, especially David, he'll be sharing his food with Sukkah and with Duke. Much to the annoyance of other people around him.

And he'll just sneak his food over there. And Duke knows. He knows. He knows. He'll smell David around. Okay, yeah, it's time for a meal now. But that's because of the generosity. Are you going to see them? It's Sukkah now. It's Sukkah now, yeah. Yeah. Duke is like, I don't know, Sukkah wants like a hamburger. He's like, I just want that. And Abande was the same way. He would do the same thing. All the animals would gather around his table, and most of his meal was given to them.

Right? And that's just giving to dogs and cats. Think about sharing your food with others. If you understood the value of doing that, right? Just sharing a glass of water, sharing a little bit of your food. It's always nice, especially when you go to Asian countries or when you go to India, for example. Everybody shares their food. That's the cool thing about Indian food, is it's meant to be shared. There's no way you can't share it.

It's so good, right? It's arguably the best, but that's just the culture in Asia of sharing. So next time, it doesn't mean I'm saying that you have everybody go in a line and share food with Sukkah. You don't need to do that either; that would be interesting. But when you have the opportunity to share, share. And this is universal. This is not only in the Dhamma. You see this in all traditions; they talk about generosity in one way or the other. Hey, Jesus has spoken about it. Muhammad has spoken about it. You have that in the Torah as well, about charity and giving.

You have the concept of tithing. You have the concept of giving a percentage of your wealth to something good, to charitable works, to the downtrodden. And there is meaning in that. That is part of right view. We're going to talk about right view tomorrow, but one aspect of right view is understanding action and consequence, and another aspect of right view is understanding that there is meaning in giving and in what is offered.

Meaning when you are generous, there is a direct effect to that generosity, however that generosity is expressed, and that too, whether you know it or not, because the intention to give alone is such a clear, uplifted intention that it creates amazing amounts of karma. So I'm going to get into the main subject about that generosity, but I'll give you some of my examples of that as well. I talked to you about San Diego, but I remember when I was in India. So I traveled back to India. I lived in the US for some time in my childhood, and then from my high school I went to India, and I went to a place called Pathways World School. It was an international school, about 30 or 40 minutes north of Delhi, I guess, and it was up in the hills, beautiful, beautiful campus, about a 30-acre campus out in the forest.

It had a man-made lake and it was gorgeous. Anyway, I lived there because it was a boarding school as well. So I lived in a hostel with other people, and I had a roommate this side and that side. And I was always giving, I was always sharing, much to the frustration of my parents, because they would buy me all of this candy and snacks and gadgets and gear and all of that. And the first thing I would do after coming back from the U.S., coming back to the dorm and opening up my bags, everybody came to my room because they knew, hey, Delson is here. He's going to share some stuff with us.

So whatever I had, I just basically gave away to them. They wanted to use my computer? Go ahead, use my computer. They want to use my phone? Actually, I have a story about that, and it's a little selfish, but once you understand, you would probably say, yeah, I would do the same thing. At the time I was interested in a girl in school, right? So here was the thing you used to get your cell phone to be able to call home every evening, right? The house parents, the dorm parents, whatever, they would give it to you, and you had about half an hour or an hour to be able to call them and talk to them, but then you had to return your phone back so that you weren't texting all night long and all of that. But there was this girl that I was interested in, and she didn't have a phone, and she wanted to get in touch with her grandmother because she was sick, so I said, why don't you use my phone?

And don't worry about it, keep the phone in the night and give it to me the next day. It was because I was interested in this girl. It was my selfish motive, to show her that I'm a selfless guy. And she used the phone. She was very grateful and everything. But the next day, her phone, my phone, rang in her room, and it was my dad. She picked up the phone, and he said, who is this? And she said, this is so-and-so, and he said, where is Delson? And she said, I will find him and see where he is. Do you want to speak to him? He said yeah, because I am in school right now and I'm looking for him.

She passed on the message to my friends, and somehow I was in the library, and it got to me that my dad's there. So I found out he was there. He was a strict guy, somebody who was very strict but also very gentle and everything. But I was like, why is he here? He was just on a surprise visit to get some pizza for me. So I walked into the admin building and I saw him there, and he said, we hugged and everything, and he had pizza for me, and we were having pizza. He said, so where is your phone? And I said, and before I could say anything, imagine I'm sitting here and my dad's sitting there, and the door to the admin building is there, and this girl walks in and she sees me. She's actually coming to see my dad, and she sees me with him. I just give her a look to go back, and she just turns back.

But that was just my nature. I was giving always as best as I could. I'd always love to pay for people's food, like we used to go out almost every Saturday, and I'd try to buy pizza for everyone, and that just became the norm for me, always being able to give and provide for people, however I could. If they wanted to borrow my jacket, here you go, here's my jacket. They liked the shirt that I wore, and it fit them, here, take it. Of course, that was also upsetting to my parents, because they bought it for me. But from a very young age I understood, you have to share. When I was a very, very little kid in kindergarten, that was one of the things: share whatever you have. But I did it to the extreme, sharing as much as I could with everybody, because for me these things were more gratifying.

More satisfying, and the amount of people that were around me, the people who helped me with whatever I needed, who protected me from all kinds of things, that was immense. Later on, when things didn't turn out so well because of other situations, I was still protected because of my generosity. I went to the Himalayas when I was 16, and we got into so many different situations, landslides and disasters and floods and all that, but we turned out okay. Everything turned out okay. And from there, other things happened. I got into different kinds of medicine practices and whatnot, but the generosity kept flowing. It always kept flowing. So even while we were there in the Himalayas, we were living like sadhus, so we would actually go door to door with our bowls for alms, and we would share with others. There are some very interesting stories that happened in the Himalayas, which one day I might share, because it's so over the top, it's so crazy, it'll be like, no way, that didn't happen.

One day I'll write about it and it'll be out there after I pass on. But, you know, those things were also representative of the effect of Dana, my generosity to people, just sharing with people. And so that evolved into my experience in San Diego with somebody else who was very generous with me, with kind of people that I met, the kind of connections I had, and now I live in such an amazing life. You know, I recently did this podcast on a show called Conscious Money. It was talking about the principles of making money and the principles of wealth and the lifestyle that I lead. It's so generous because of the generosity of other people around me, right? And I'm well protected. Everything that I require is given to me at the right time, whenever I need it, so I never have anything to worry about at all. I just live on the principle of that: if you take care of the Dhamma, the Dhamma will take care of you. So what does that mean? If you take care of the Dhamma, the Dhamma will take care of you. It means being

moral and ethical, keeping the precepts all the time. It means being generous, it means being compassionate, it means being forgiving. It means, believe it or not, it also means having a good sense of humor. And that's what I propose to people, is that as you get these different attainments, your sense of humor only gets better, right? Because everything is so uplifting, everything is so funny.

You can laugh at anything. You don't get offended by anything. So, my life is that amazing, and it just keeps getting better and better and better. And that's my testament to the process of keeping the precepts and being generous with everything that you have. So with that I'm going to go into the main sutta about generosity.

So, this is Majjhima Nikaya 142, and it's called Dakkhina Vibhanga Sutta, the exposition of offerings. Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was living in the Sakyan country at Kapalavatu in Nigrodha's park. Then the Maha Pajapati Gotami took a new pair of clothes and went to the Blessed One. After paying homage to him, she sat down at one side and said to the Blessed One, "Venerable sir, this new pair of cloth has been spun by me, woven by me, especially for the Blessed One. Venerable sir, let the Blessed One accept it from me out of compassion."

When this was said, the Blessed One told her, "Give it to the Sangha, Gotami. When you give it to the Sangha, both I and the Sangha will be honored." So the Buddha was not rejecting her gift; he was saying give it to the Sangha. So the idea here is: when you give to a Sangha member, when you give to a monastic, whether it's a bhikkhu or a bhikkhuni, what you're doing is, in your mind when you're giving to them, you have the intention that this is going to the entire Sangha. Whatever it is that you're offering to a monastic, you're saying that they are representing the Sangha with the Buddha at its head.

And so this is for the entire Sangha. They're just accepting it on behalf of the entire Sangha. And so the Buddha is publishing that in this statement. He's saying, give it to the Sangha. And so it represents that it's being offered to the entire Sangha. A second time and a third time she said to the Blessed One, "Venerable sir, accept it from me out of compassion." A second time and a third time the Blessed One told her, "Give it to the Sangha, Gotami. When you give it to the Sangha, both I and the Sangha will be honored."

Then the Venerable Ananda said to the Blessed One, "Venerable sir, let the Blessed One accept the new pair of cloths from Mahapajapati Gotami. Mahapajapati Gotami has been very helpful to the Blessed One, Venerable sir. As his mother's sister, she was his nurse, his foster mother, the one who gave him milk. She suckled the Blessed One when his own mother died." So the Buddha's mother died shortly after or at that time. The Bodhisattva's mother died shortly after he was born, and so Pajapati Gotami was his foster mother. She took care of him as her own son. "The Blessed One too has been very helpful to Mahapajapati Gotami, Venerable sir. It is owing to the Blessed One that Mahapajapati Gotami has gone for refuge to the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha. It is owing to the Blessed One that Mahapajapati Gotami abstains from killing living beings, from taking what is not given, from misconduct in sensual pleasures, from false speech, and from wine, liquor and intoxicants, which are the basis of negligence."

So this is what Ananda is saying: accept it, because she is your foster mother and she helped you grow up. As you became older, you basically also did something for her. Number one, you offered her the opportunity to take refuge in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. You offered the opportunity for her to follow the precepts. And then, it is owing to the Blessed One that Mahapajapati Gotami possesses unwavering confidence in the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha, and that she possesses the virtues loved by noble ones. It is owing to the Blessed One that Mahapajapati Gotami is free from doubt, from suffering, about the origin of suffering, about the cessation of suffering, and about the way leading to the cessation of suffering.

The Blessed One has been very helpful to Mahapajapati Gotami. In other words, he has helped her to the point of at least experiencing stream entry. That's a wonderful thing you could do as a child, is to be able to help your parents get to that point, one way or the other. That is so, Ananda, that is so. When one person, owing to another, has gone for refuge to the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha, it is not easy for the former to repay the latter. In other words, when somebody has given you the opportunity to take refuge, it is not easy for you to repay that person by paying homage to him, rising up for him, according him reverential salutation and polite services, and by providing robes, alms food, resting places and medicinal requisites.

When a person has experienced all of that, it is difficult to repay them, right? But they do repay them in reverential respect and so on and so forth. When one person, owing to another, has become free from doubt about suffering, about the origin of suffering, about the cessation of suffering, and about the way leading to the cessation of suffering, I say that it is not easy for the former to repay the latter by paying homage to him.

There are 14 kinds of personal offerings, 14 kinds of ways of giving dana. One gives a gift to the Tathagata, accomplished and fully enlightened. That is the first kind of personal offering. Unfortunately that's not possible now, but when it was, it was a big thing to be able to offer something to the Buddha. One gives a gift to a Paccekabuddha. That is the second kind of personal offering. That too is not possible right now, because there are no Paccekabuddhas. One gives a gift to an arahant disciple of the Tathagata. This is the third kind of personal offering. This could be possible. One gives a gift to one who has entered upon the way to the realization of the fruit of arahatship.

So everything from this moment forward, these offerings forward, is possible, or could be possible. One gives a gift to one who has entered upon the way to the realization of the fruit of arahatship. This is the fourth kind of personal offering. One gives a gift to a non-returner. This is the fifth kind of personal offering. One gives a gift to one who has entered upon the way to the realization of the fruit of non-return. This is the sixth kind of personal offering. One gives a gift to a once-returner. This is the seventh kind of personal offering. One gives a gift to one who has entered upon the way to the realization of the fruit of once-return.

This is the eighth kind of personal offering. One gives a gift to a stream-enterer. This is the ninth kind of personal offering. One gives a gift to one who has entered upon the way to the realization of the fruit of stream entry. This is the tenth kind of personal offering. One gives a gift to one outside the dispensation, so somebody outside of the Sangha, somebody outside of realizing the fruits of the Dhamma, who is free from lust for sensual pleasures. So this is somebody who might be an ascetic or a wanderer and has experienced meditative states like the jhanas, because it's only in the jhanas that you're free of any kind of lust for sensual pleasures.

One gives a gift to a virtuous ordinary person, so somebody who's just keeping the precepts. This is the 12th kind of personal offering. One gives a gift to an immoral ordinary person, somebody who doesn't keep the precepts, but you're still generous to them. You don't know if they keep the precepts or not, but you're just generous for the sake of being generous.

This is the 13th kind of personal offering. One gives a gift to an animal. This is the 14th kind of personal offering. David is the foremost in this kind of offering. That's right, somewhere here, in Ananda. By giving a gift to an animal, the offering may be expected to repay a hundredfold. By giving a gift to an immoral ordinary person, the offering may be expected to repay a thousandfold. By giving a gift to a virtuous, ordinary person, the offering may be expected to repay a hundred thousandfold. By giving a gift to one outside the dispensation, who is free from lust for sensual pleasures, the offering may be expected to repay a hundred thousand times a hundred thousandfold.

That's a lot. That's like incalculable. By giving a gift to one who has entered upon the way to the realization of the fruit of stream entry, that offering may be expected to repay incalculably, immeasurably. What then should be said about the gift or giving a gift to a stream enterer? What should be said about giving a gift to one who has entered upon the way to the realization of the fruit of once-returning, to a once-returner? To one who has entered upon the way to the realization of the fruit of non-return, to a non-returner? To one who has entered upon the way to the realization of the fruit of arahatship, to an arahat, to a Paccheka Buddha? What should be said about giving a gift to a Tathagata, accomplished and fully enlightened?

There are seven kinds of offerings made to the Sangha. Ananda, one gives a gift to a Sangha of both bhikkhus and bhikkhunis headed by the Buddha. Now that's not possible, because that's no longer here. This is the first kind of offering made to the Sangha. One gives a gift to a Sangha of both bhikkhus and bhikkhunis after the Tathagata has attained final nibbana. This is the second kind of offering made to the Sangha. One gives a gift to a Sangha of bhikkhus. This is the third kind of offering made to the Sangha. One gives a gift to a Sangha of bhikkhunis. This is the fourth kind of offering made to the Sangha.

One gives a gift saying, "Appoint so many bhikkhus and bhikkhunis for me from the Sangha." This is the fifth kind of offering made to the Sangha. One gives a gift saying, "Appoint so many bhikkhus for me from the Sangha." This is the sixth kind of offering made to the Sangha. One gives a gift saying, "Appoint so many bhikkhunis for me from the Sangha." This is the seventh kind of offering made to the Sangha. In future times, Ananda, so this is later on, many, many, many, many years later, even future from now.

There will be members of the clan, that is to say, members of the order of bhikkhus and bhikkhunis, who are yellow necks, immoral of evil character. So what are yellow necks? This comes at a time when there's not enough cloth to even have a robe. So in order for someone to know that they are a member of the bhikkhu or bhikkhuni sangha, they will have a little yellow cloth tied around their neck.

But they will not be proper bhikkhus and bhikkhunis either, because as it says, they will be immoral and of evil character. In other words, they won't be following the vinaya. And more than that, they're just ceremonially bhikkhus and bhikkhunis, because they still have day jobs and they're still doing other things. People will give gifts to those immoral persons for the sake of the Sangha. Even then, I say, an offering made to the Sangha is incalculable, immeasurable.

And I say that in no way is a gift to a person individually ever more fruitful than an offering made to the Sangha. Very interesting. So in your mind, when you're giving to a member of the Sangha, when you're giving to a bhikkhu or bhikkhuni, give with the understanding that this is going to the entire Sangha headed by the Buddha, because that is much, much, much more fruitful than giving to one person individually. With that mindset. Ananda, there are four kinds of purification of offering. What for? There is the offering that is purified by the giver and not by the receiver. There is the offering that is purified by the receiver, not by the giver.

There is the offering that is purified neither by the giver nor by the receiver. And there is the offering that is purified both by the giver and by the receiver. And how is the offering purified by the giver, not by the receiver? Here the giver is virtuous, of good character, and the receiver is immoral, of evil character. Thus the offering is purified by the giver, not by the receiver.

So in other words, the fruition of karma is greater. And how is the offering purified by the receiver, not by the giver? Here the giver is immoral, of evil character, and the receiver is virtuous, of good character. Thus the offering is purified by the receiver, not by the giver. And how is the offering purified neither by the giver nor by the receiver? Here the giver is immoral, of evil character, and the receiver is immoral, of evil character. Thus the offering is purified neither by the giver nor by the receiver. However, there is still some good karma here, some good merit. Just the very act of giving. The thing is, you just give without knowing whether that person is a stream enterer, whether they are moral or immoral.

You just give. The giving itself creates some level of merit, and that merit will be understood, or will be realized, at some point in your life. Right, if not in this life, another lifetime. But the one thing that is for certain is that the mind will be uplifted in the moment of giving. That in itself is enough for the mind to go into jhana. When the mind goes into jhana, that allows the mind then to experience insight, and there is a potential for the mind to experience extreme entry. So keeping the precepts and giving, these two things are really the foundation for the entire path. They are the path, actually, because every time you have right intention, every time you have right speech, every time you have right action, your intentions are generous, because they are for the sake of relieving pain and suffering, not for the sake of adding to a person's pain or suffering.

That in itself is also being generous. And how is the offering purified both by the giver and the receiver? Here the giver is virtuous, of good character, and the receiver is virtuous, of good character. Thus the offering is purified both by the giver and by the receiver. These are the four kinds of purification of offering. That is what the Blessed One said. When the Sublime One had said that, the Teacher said further, now he speaks in verse. He says: when a virtuous person to an immoral person gives with trusting heart a gift righteously obtained, this is very important to understand, with a trusting heart, a gift righteously obtained, placing faith that the fruit of action is great. So in other words, a trusting heart. What is that trusting heart? Confidence in the fact that this is a moral action, confidence in the fact that this is in alignment with the Dhamma. Righteously obtained doesn't mean that you steal from somebody and then offer dana from that. You have to, through your own efforts, from your own gains that have been rightfully gained, offer whatever it is that you want to offer.

Placing faith that the fruit of action is great, understanding and realizing that this will have some meritorious implication for me. So there's nothing wrong with that, being able to offer in such a way that says that this will be beneficial for me. That in itself uplifts the mind. That itself allows the mind to come into a state of jhana. When an immoral person to a virtuous person gives with untrusting heart a gift unrighteously obtained, nor places faith that the fruit of action is great. In other words, this person has no belief in karma, doesn't care about merit or the meaning of giving and all of that. And they've stolen it and they've given it to this person.

Neither's virtue purifies the offering. However, even if it doesn't purify the offering, there is still some sliver of merit in the intention of giving. When a virtuous person to a virtuous person gives with trusting heart, a gift righteously obtained, placing faith that the fruit of action is great, that gift, I say, will come to full fruition. So if a moral person, somebody who is uplifted and righteous, somebody who keeps their precepts, somebody who is also experienced in jhana, let's say, somebody who is working on the path, gives to somebody else, maybe they don't know it, but the other person, too, is somebody who is virtuous, who is moral, who is ethical, who is on the path.

The effect of that will be felt relatively immediately, at some point in that life. It will come to full fruition. You are bound to experience the benefit of that at some point. And then he says: When a passionless person to a passionless person gives with trusting heart a gift righteously obtained, placing faith that the fruit of action is great, that gift, I say, is the best of worldly gifts.

What kind of gift is that? That's like one arahat giving to another arahat. There's no real effect there. It purifies the gift immensely, because that mind is absolutely pure on both the giving and the receiving end. But because an arahat's actions are non-productive, producing further karma, there's no real benefit from that in the sense of them receiving something as a result of it in terms of a fruition of karma. It's just that it's a wonderful thing that two pure minds are on the giving and receiving end of an exchange of whatever it is. So the takeaway from the Sutta is essentially understanding your intentions when you're giving, whenever you're giving, whether it's to, especially when it's to the Sangha. You're understanding you're coming with a mind filled with loving kindness when you're giving. To a teacher, let's say it's a non-monastic teacher, you still give with the heart filled with loving kindness. A mind filled with loving kindness when you are paying for somebody's meal, you do it with a heart filled with loving kindness.

When you're opening the door for someone, when you share your smile, you do it with a heart filled with loving kindness. There's so many things you can do with the resources that you have. There's so many things I haven't talked about that I've done that have allowed me to have the fruition of this great meritorious karma. You can be a sneaky giver as well, just suddenly give somewhere and nobody knows where it came from. That's fine too, but your mind is immediately uplifted. And David can attest to this as well, where people have given to the center, and it might be a smaller amount in the beginning, but you notice that they start to give in larger and larger amounts on a monthly basis. Why is that? Because in their process of giving they have experienced the benefits of that giving, which includes also the ability to give even larger amounts.

Maybe something has helped them in their workplace, or they found a new job, or whatever it is, but it has allowed them to actually give even more. And David always says, as he says, I've noticed that when somebody has a generous mindset, when somebody is keeping the precepts, but especially is sharing, being helpful and being generous, they are on the path to experiencing stream entry.

And that happens without a doubt. 100%. So David, I mean, I can't bet with David because he'll win, but if he was to bet with somebody else, he would probably win anyway. But he would just say, I'll bet you $100 that this person, because they're generous, they will attain stream entry. They will have some success in the meditation.

David will be a hundred dollars richer. No, it's quite true. You can see a history of how somebody will start to give some money to the center and say, "This is highly beneficial, it benefits yourself." They say, "Well, okay, I'll try it." Well, that person most likely comes to do a retreat and his progress is really quick. Somebody else says, no, I really can't afford it. They come with poverty, it's okay. But overall, the majority of people who are giving constantly, they're letting go. It's a process of they're just completely, it's another part of the success. Yeah, that's true.

I think that's a very important point you bring up, because that's the stinginess factor, right? Stinginess is essentially kind of like a scarcity mindset. Like, I don't have enough, so I have to hold on to this. But if you have the ability to say, I want to pay for that person's meal, or I want to help this person out, you start to get into that kind of abundant mindset. But more importantly, you let go of ownership, the sense of ownership, the sense of identification with the things that you supposedly own. Right? We all came with nothing in this world and we're going to leave with nothing.

Everything else is just borrowed goods. It might have your name on it, right? Your name might be on the deed, your name might be on the title, your name might be on the bank account, whatever it is, but ultimately you're not taking any of that with you when you're gone. So the ability to let go of that stinginess and say, "Hey, I want to be able to share," that only opens up pathways for the ability to share even more. And that also comes into where people want to share with you, so the levels of generosity become returned to you. Right? The ultimate level of generosity is to live like a monk. You allow others to be generous to you. Right?

You allow people to pay the bill for you. Oftentimes you will try to pay the bill, try to pay the meal, but somebody's already done it, right, or whatever it might be. So you allow the opportunity for people to exercise generosity for you, for your livelihood. So that will happen in time. You will see it for yourselves. And again, I can attest to that. That's how I live. I live by the Dhamma. I teach the Dhamma for free, and I live by Dhamma. I live by generosity.

It seems impossible, it seems difficult, but I'm having a great time. I have no idea what my schedule is like, where I'm supposed to go, what I'm supposed to do. So I have people tell me, "Hey, you're supposed to be in Europe at this time, this day." Okay, get me there. I'll get there. Go ahead, talk. All right, what next? There's an entire master calendar that's there up until the year 2025.

It shows you all the dates of where I'm supposed to be. I still don't know where I'm supposed to be, where and when. It's just like, I get a message, here are your tickets, you have to go here. Okay, cool. I show up and do that, take a break. And the wonderful thing is the lifestyle I lead, right? So if I'm going to Europe or if I'm going to Japan, if I'm going here or there, the wonderful thing is the people who are organizing those things take very good care of you. They make sure you're well-fed. They make sure that you have good housing. They make sure that you have enough comfort as well.

So make sure that you have enough break time. So I'm traveling the world teaching the Dhamma, but also being like a tourist. Like, I can go and check out, I'm in Japan, I can go to Tokyo if it's possible, or if I'm in Europe, I'm going to the UK, so I'll check out Big Ben, for example, or if I'm going to France, check out the Eiffel Tower, do all the touristy stuff. And that also is taken care of by my organizers.

It's a wonderful life. But the whole point about that is you start small, right? You start small with whatever it is that you have now, and give with the mindset that I'm happy to give, because stinginess is also about the intention of how you give. You might say, okay, I might give this much to this particular person, and then if you have regret about it, then that means you haven't fully let go of being able to give and being uplifted in that moment, that I'm grateful for giving and providing, and then letting that become a seed in your mind that grows

and keeps you uplifted. The moment you have regret, that completely nullifies everything. So give in a way that causes you to be uplifted. Don't give in a way that you say, I'm going to sign my deed over to you. Give whatever you think is right, but don't do it in such a way that causes you pain and regret. That's also very important, very practical.

So, any questions? Yeah? I have some questions back to you in the process. Yes. What about unique here? How does that fit into the not killing? Okay, so when it talks about killing, there are, I think, five things that have to be there in order for it to be considered killing. There has to be a living being, there has to be an intention to kill, there has to be a weapon or something to kill, that weapon has to be used, and the living being has to be killed. So when you're eating meat, none of those are met as any of those five components. So that's always a question that will get asked at some point or another.

What about eating meat? So the idea is, for the monastics, the Buddha gave three basic measures about eating meat, because the Buddha's cousin Devadatta tried to introduce vegetarianism into the Sangha, and he said the entire Sangha should be vegetarian, and the Buddha said no, because he understood that would be unfair on their part, because those who were giving alms food, some of them maybe could only prepare meat and some of them vegetables, or some of them, whatever it is. So you have to be open to receiving whatever it is. However, you cannot accept meat on three measures. The first is that

the meat was specially killed for you, in other words, the animals especially slaughtered for the meat that is given to you, or that you heard the animal being slaughtered, and third, you have a suspicion that this meat that was being offered was especially killed for you. Those are the three measures, right? Seen it, heard it and suspected. Yeah, I know it. - Or know or suspect. - Know or suspected, there you go. Being heard, known or suspected.

But that's essentially for monastics. For lay people, it's a little less stringent, but regardless, as you become a meditator, you become more like that. So if somebody does offer you meat, it's not something that was especially offered to you because they killed it. But still, you wouldn't go to a restaurant, for example, and pick out a lobster that you want to eat, or somebody else picks it out for you. You have that kind of intention where it's like, no, that's not kosher to me. So, but that's up to everybody's individual choice, what they want to do. - Okay, and the second question is, in terms of intoxicant, adult in mind, what do you have to do about that?

- So that depends on context also. So for example, psychedelics do have some medicinal value depending upon the context. For example, you have something called MDMA therapy, which is not really a psychedelic, or you have ketamine therapy, and that is utilized under certain kinds of parameters, which are observed by somebody like a therapist, who's administering it in a medical fashion, and allowing the patient to experience the relief from certain kinds of situations like depression or PTSD and things like that. But doing psychedelics for the sake of doing psychedelics and things like that, that I would see as an indulgence in intoxicants.

That doesn't mean that I don't see the way psychedelics will help open the mind. Certain psychedelics and psychedelic experiences allow a person to experience, for example, ego death, and I disidentify with all of their ego. But the same thing I would say about that is, if I were to give you a pill where you could experience all of the jhanas, would you take it? Most of you probably would say yes, I would take it, because it will allow me to experience the jhanas. Now, after I do that, I'll tell you, now can you do it yourself? So that's the whole thing. With psychedelics there is some kind of beneficial effect that it has, but the thing is

more often than not, people's trips have been not that great because of the set and setting, and it has created some suffering. And there are some videos we've seen of Cheetah House, I think that was called Cheetah House, where this is not really much talked about, but they really address this, where people have experienced some psychedelic states or some mental states due to taking psychedelics, and it has not worked out well for them. So there is danger in it too. I think it's all about the context, the set and setting. So, when you walk the path, we are supposed to live in a state of enlightened awareness, mindfulness.

Let's say, in a moment of temporary mindlessness, we either act or think, and not with some thought. What is the atonement of that would have been said, but correcting for that. Yeah. And here's the thing. Even if you become a stream-enter, there will be a lapse in mindfulness. And as I said, it doesn't mean you've abolished craving and aversion.

But you will try to keep your precepts as best as you can. And what the Buddha has said about that is that if somebody has broken the minor precepts, right, maybe you slipped up and you had that glass of wine or you told a white lie, then you realize that, and if you can, in front of a Buddha statue if it's possible, you retake the precepts, and in your mind you make the commitment not to break that precept again. That's really all it is.

I don't know if this was mentioned in the beginning, but that was one of the things that was there in the monastic retreat, which is where if somebody broke a precept, they would go to the preceptor and they would retake the precepts with them. Yes. On a similar note, what's the deal with prohibition on singing and dancing? Well. For monks. That's for monks. Yeah. And for other things. Yeah. I imagine it could be uplifting. Oh, yeah. It is definitely uplifting. So the idea is that singing and dancing is really a sensual pleasure, and with meditation, you want to approach meditation where you're secluded from sensual pleasures.

So the idea is for monks or for monastics, they've gone into the monastic order as a way of getting to Nibbana. And so, actually, the bhikkhus have, what was it, David, how many precepts? 227. Sorry, 227 precepts. And the bhikkhunis, Manur Vabhasa? 311 precepts. And there are all kinds of precepts about, for example, not pulling out the weeds from the ground. There are so many different things there, and it's all because you're creating a certain lifestyle in the monastic order where you have let go of the lay life completely, and so now you have one goal and one goal only, which is to attain Nibbana. So it's basically getting to a point where you are very determined and dedicated to the practice. So singing in here and dancing, inherently, there's nothing wrong with them at all.

And as lay people, it's okay. It's fine. But in a meditation center, if you want, when you take the five precepts day after, you can sing and dance all you want. Yeah, let's have a disco. Yeah, let's do that. I think in the morning it's the eighth precept when we read it, is to be loving and kind to all beings. Isn't the actual eighth precept to not sleep on a higher luxurious bed? Isn't that the part of the precepts or no? Yeah. Is it? Dante beings remove it. We just don't. And he put in, let's be loving and kind to all beings. Let's take it as a precept. And you'll notice it actually doesn't say precept.

It just says we need to be loving and kind to all beings. Oh. Right. - It's not, it's acting, got it. - You caught it. - Any other questions? Yes, you sort of have a question? You either have a question or you don't. It's like when you're in the Seinfeld joke. - It's like it might be an appropriate question. - I love those. - We'll all be all alone with it anyway. So on top of, do you have any personal tips and tricks for maintaining, on top of, or outside of what's in the surface? Have you done or seen anything where you're like, this also works really well? - In terms of what?

- In terms of, yeah, practices in lay life that help you maintain a level of calm or a steady mind? Good sleep. Sleep isn't really talked about much. It is talked about in the form of you get a certain amount of sleep and things like that. But I think having really good sleep is very important. And having really good quality sleep is very important, which means enough REM, enough deep sleep as well, is very important. Because think about it, and this is so weird because I had this question on one of these online Q&As, and it kept coming up, it's like, so do we have to be sleep deprived in order to experience success in the meditation?

And I said, where are you guys getting these questions? Because somehow they got this idea that I have to sleep only four hours, so I have to sleep only three hours, and only then, and then be very dedicated. No, none of that. And the problem is, I know that in certain monasteries in Asia they do something like that, where they only sleep for a certain amount of time and they wake up really early in the morning and so on and so forth, but it's not helpful. So getting enough sleep, proper nutrition, to proper supplementation, to that's not talked about this in the sutta as much, but in terms of modern science and stuff, yeah, you need that kind of vitality to be able to have that energy to meditate and do all these things. Yes. Bhavana is mental development.

That's essentially synonymous with meditation. All right. Let's share some merit. May suffering ones be suffering free and the fear-struck fearless be. May the grief and may all beings find relief. May all beings share this merit that we have thus acquired for the acquisition of all kinds of happiness. May beings inhabiting space and earth, devas and nagas of mighty power share this merit of ours. May they long protect the Buddha's dispensation. Sadhu, Sadhu, Sadhu. Thank you.